Ashlee and Alyssa play in the historic Rundle Mall fountain. Picture: Simon Cross Source: The Advertiser

A child plays in the water fountain in Moseley Square. Picture: Bianca De Marchi, Source: adelaidenow

A WATER playground similar to the one in Glenelg's Moseley Square might replace the historic Rundle Mall fountain outside Adelaide Arcade.

About 6500 people have signed a petition, started by the arcade's management, against the fountain being shifted from the mall as part of a $30 million upgrade set to start next month.

Town Hall says it has yet to decide what to do with the fountain, but one option is to replace it with a water playground like the one at Glenelg, which features water jets that shoot up from an area of patterned paving.

Other options are moving it to a laneway off the mall or to North Tce, or outside Adelaide Oval.

The council is also considering shifting it a few metres closer to the arcade entrance, in line with plans to create a clear central corridor down the mall. The petition explicitly favours this option.

Clarke The Jeweller sales assistant Lauren Sciancalepore said the fountain was a landmark that appealed to all, and that the water playground idea was "ridiculous".

"Rundle Mall is not an aquatics centre, it's a shopping precinct," she said. "Where it is now it doesn't interfere with anything."

Arcade manager Andrew Jonats said the thousands of signatures had been gathered since Christmas Eve and he hoped to have 10,000 signatures by the end of the month.

"I think that's a fair indication of what the people of Adelaide want," he said.

Mr Jonats said it would be better to reduce the size of the pool at the fountain's base and shift it nearer than the arcade rather than removing it from the mall.

Hedrena sales assistant Anne Thompson said keeping the fountain was important for traders because it was a landmark for giving people directions to the arcade. Adelaide Hatters worker Lea Joyner suggested moving the fountain inside the arcade, to the intersection with Gay's Arcade.

The council's acting CEO, Neil Brown, said the council and the Rundle Mall Management Authority would consider all feedback when deciding the final location of the fountain.

Creating an open corridor was part of delivering "a modern, world class mall," he said.

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Comments on this story

hmmm of SA Posted at 1:24 PM January 09, 2013

Outside Adelaide Oval would be perfect next to all the lovely old trees....oh hang on, they just got chopped down.
I'll have it in my yard as a water feature if they can't figure it out?

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